“Would you like to join me for dinner?”

James looked up and was surprised to see his boss with his hand inside his pockets, looking at him expectantly. Mr. Humble was wearing his lucky button-down shirt, but Jamie doesn’t need to know that. His throat felt dry as he watched the younger look at him, head tilting and brows knitted together.

Jamie thought something was wrong with Mr. Humble. Now, it was affirmative. It was the second night of the trip already. When Jamie got off the phone with Mark yesterday afternoon, Mr. Humble was quiet and had stopped dragging him around. Instead, he led Jamie to the dining hall for the luncheon and gave curt nods and short answers for the rest of the day. This, asking him for dinner, was probably the most words he has spoken to him since then.

“Of course, sir,” James replied slowly. “Isn’t it a buffet?”

“Uh, yes,” Eric buried his hands further in his pocket, remembering his conversation yesterday with Mr. Michaels.

Anthony held his hands up after the teasing remark. “I was just kidding, Mr. Humble.” He gave him a boyish grin before the young man’s face turned serious. “I hope you do know that I respect you and look up to you.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Eric had replied then, his eyes returning to his assistant.

“Well, I can’t blame you. We did get off on the wrong foot, being pitched against each other for a position,” Anthony prattled on. “But I do respect you, and I know how to respect boundaries, especially if someone is spoken for.”

Eric turned to the man who stood beside him, his brows raised.

Mr. Michaels chuckled at his reaction. “We just have different personalities, you know. I am the way I am because I believe that love is rare, and I need to chase it. It evades me still. But sir, to find love is to be privileged. Not everybody finds it,” Anthony put his hand on his shoulder and looked at Jamie, who was then stomping on the floor like a little kid. “I hope you don’t let this one passed you by. If I noticed him, you can be sure the others did as well, and I can’t guarantee that they care if Mr. Carter is with you.”

Eric had been in thought since then. He has been pining for his assistant for five years now, but he has never made a move. It was not because he did not want to, he could not. He was too afraid to be rejected by him, too scared to lose him. Jamie Carter made him more excited to come to work, made him think of more campaigns just so he could spend time with him. During stressful weeks, the little notes Jamie leaves on his cup of coffee had kept him going. It always made him laugh how the young man would nag him lightly whenever he skips a meal. It was cute, and their little moments made him feel warm. Yet, here he was gambling it all.

He thought about it a great deal, aware that his actions were noticed by the other. He was afraid to lose him, but even more so to lose him to somebody else because of fear. “But I made arrangements for just the two of us,” he explained to Jamie, with his fingers crossed in the pockets of his lucky slacks the younger did not need to know about.

Eric watched the color bloom on the apples of the other’s cheek as he looked down. With bated breath, he waited until Jamie gave him the smallest nod. “That would be nice, sir. Thank you.”

“Please, call me Eric. It’s just the two of us, after all.”